Will Jones be made to pay for his bizarre team selection?

Even though England are at home, you would have to be kidding yourself or looking at the line-ups through rose-tinted glasses not to believe Ireland are favourites to win.

That is not so much because the visitors are coming to Twickenham on the back of two victories already this Six Nations, and could seal a Triple Crown. It is just because the side that Andy Farrell has picked look more balanced.

For instance, Ireland have Stander at No8 and Peter O’mahony at blindside flanker. Those are two streetwise specialists who are in good form and have years of time together with Munster behind them.

By contrast, Jones is continuing the Tom Curry experiment at No8 and has brought Courtney Lawes into the back row again. Lawes is one of five locks in the England squad, with two – Joe Launchbury and Charlie Ewels – on the bench. Having two locks on the bench simply seems bizarre.

Is it even possible to for a match to be as grinding and attritional as England apparently want it to be? And if they are going to go down that route, should experience in those positions not count for a lot more?

It is as if England have forgotten the excellent, fast-paced rugby that they played against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final. After that game, any six-two split of forwards on the bench – let alone one featuring two locks – would have seemed unthinkable.

Jones may even have tried an unconventional four-four split with an extra back, such as Jack Nowell, among the replacements.

Before the Calcutta Cup, I wrote that Ben Youngs might have felt that he had been made something of a scapegoat for the loss in France and a lack of dynamism from England’s carriers and how few of them seemed to be coming on to his passes at pace.

Willi Heinz did not do too badly in Scotland until a couple of poor kicks, so switching the scrum-halves around once more just means that it will be more difficult for either to settle into a rhythm.

That can affect the entire team.